Compact disc publishing and replicating systems often use an ink jet printer to print a label directly on a compact disc (CD). This involves placing the disc on a movable tray and moving an ink jet cartridge over the disc to deposit ink droplets onto the disc as the tray moves the disc substantially perpendicular to the motion of the cartridge. One problem that can occur during printing is disc movement, which can cause blurred images, images printed atop other images, etc. Therefore, it is common to clamp the disc to the tray. However, many clamping mechanisms do not repeatedly clamp the discs in the same location on the tray. That is, the centers of successively clamped compact discs do not always coincide with substantially the same predetermined point on the tray that is used as a reference during printing. This may make it difficult to print an image in the same location on these discs. Moreover, many disc printers are not capable of verifying that a disc is correctly clamped on the tray.
It is often desirable to print on different size discs. One problem is identifying the disc size so that the printer deposits a correctly sized image on the disc. For example, the printer may be set for printing a large image on a small disc, which may cause ink to be deposited outside the boundaries of the disc, such as on the tray.
For the reasons stated above, and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the present specification, there is a need in the art for alternatives to existing compact disc printers.